Term Paper Guide, Lecture notes of History

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Term Paper Guide

Social Studies 8

History Department

John Burroughs School

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Project Materials Preparing for the Term Paper
• Project Overview
• Scheduling Time
• Grading
• Selecting a Topic
• Searching for Sources
• Making Bibliography Cards..................................................................
• Sample Bibliography Cards/Entries.....................................................
• Making Note cards
  • Overview Writing the Term Paper
  • Creating an Outline
• Writing an Introduction
• Footnoting
• Making Footnotes
• Writing a Background Paragraph
• Reporting Arguments
• Constructing and Defending a Thesis
• Writing a Conclusion
• Making a Bibliography
  • Bibliography Entry Samples Appendix
• Footnote Format Samples
• Sample Cover Page
• Sample Bibliography...........................................................................
• Planning Calendar
• Outlining Worksheet

Project Materials

* Research Guide–Bring this guide to class every day.

* Index Cards– Purchase at least 100 index cards (3x5 or 4x6) for use as bibliography

cards and note cards.

* Note Card Container– Recipe boxes work well. The school store also sells containers.

Write your name on it. Do not lose it. A set of recipe box dividers will help you organize your cards.

* Pens– Use pen not pencil, because pencil smears after being repeatedly handled.

* Folder or Binder– You must have something to hold your printouts and photocopies of

your research materials.

* Electronic Technology– You will be typing your paper and saving it multiple times.

If your computer at home is unreliable, make sure to either burn it to a CD or bring it to school on a USB flash drive. You can also save it to the shared student folder, use JBNet, e-mail periodic drafts to a friend, or e-mail your assignment to yourself and access it at school. Whatever system you choose, you should ensure your assignments (especially the final draft) arrive in class on time. Computer problems or printer issues are not ac- ceptable excuses for late work or papers.

Project Overview

The syllabus breaks the project up into daily tasks so that students will not be overwhelmed by

the amount of the work to be done. It also demonstrates how future projects should be broken up

when students must set their own pace. Teachers will check assignments each day to ensure stu-

dents maintain the proper pace. The project contains these phases:

• Selecting a Topic – Your teacher may provide a list of possible topics. You should inves- tigate several topics that interest you, choosing two or three acceptable ones, in case your first choice is no longer available at the time you sign up for your topic.
• Searching for Sources, Making Bibliography Cards, and Taking Notes–You will gather the information that will provide the basis of your research paper. Seek a variety of sources and take careful bibliography and note cards.
• Outlining and Writing the Paper –A good outline is crucial, since it will provide focus for the paper. Each section of writing will be discussed and edited in class.
• Editing and Assembling – Once the essay is complete, you must ensure that everything is well edited. During this stage you will prepare your footnotes, bibliography, cover page based upon the style requirements laid out in this guide. You will be asked to submit an electronic copy of your paper along with a hard (printed) copy. Each paper will be sent to a website that will check your work for plagiarism.

Scheduling Time

To avoid falling behind in this project, you should schedule your time carefully. Whatever you do,

do not fall behind. In 8th grade, you will have a syllabus to direct your daily assignments. You

should enter these into the planning calendar on page 34 in the Appendix. Then, you should record

all other obligations—family and school—in the calendar. If you find that you have multiple obliga-

tions on the same day, work ahead on this project so that you can get everything accomplished. Do

not use this paper as an excuse not to do work for other classes. Every deadline must be met with

carefully prepared work to minimize stress and ensure the quality of the final product.

You should also make sure well before you go to bed that any paragraph or section of the paper

that needs to be printed for class the next day is complete. That way, you can respond to any prob-

lems while you still have time. Use your flash drive, e-mail, JBNet, or any other device mentioned on

page 2 to save your work. Written assignments must be printed before class begins. Barring genuine

catastrophes, you will be expected to have your sections completed on time. Your final copy must

be complete and ready to hand in on the day that it is due!

Searching for Sources

The library staff has gone to great lengths to make information for this project available and easy to find. You will learn how to search for information and sources in your computer class and in this class. Additionally, the library has many useful databases, and its staff has constructed a website to assist you with your research. It can be found at:

http://www.jburroughs.org/library/studyguides/termpapers8.htm

Many of the web sites they list can only be accessed from the JBS campus without a password. The library has a printed sheet with logins and passwords so that you can access these sites from your home as well. You can also join the Howard A. Stamper Library classroom on JB Net. Once accepted, you can access the logins and passwords online.

Some sources that students have found helpful in the past include:

 Newsbank – This website contains a searchable database of many newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. It is also a good place to look for editorials.  CQ Researcher – This web database contains information in lengthy reports on certain subjects. Note: This site also contains the CQ Supreme Court Collection.  Gale Opposing Viewpoints – This database presents arguments on both sides of controversial issues, including material previously printed in the Opposing Viewpoints series.  Facts.com – This web service contains a wealth of information on different topics, including statistics and background material about controversial issues.  Reference Books – The library has many reference books that deal specifically with the types of topics covered by this paper.  Books – The library has several series of books (Opposing Viewpoints, Current Controversies) that provide arguments from people with very different opinions on controversial topics.  Organizations’ Web Pages – Many organizations produce material supporting or opposing various public policies. Think Tanks (Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Brookings Institution, etc.) cover a wide variety of topics, while other organizations (National Rifle Association, NARAL Pro-Choice America, etc.) will have more focused information and will not be useful for every topic.  Historical Statistics of the United States – This database contains a wide variety of statistics covering all sorts of different topics in American history.  Librarians’ Internet Index – This search engine contains only links to sites that have been examined and approved by librarians. These sources are reliable to use for your term paper.  SIRS – This organization collects diverse items from other publication and groups them by category.  ABC-CLIO Issues - A database with a wealth of sources on different current issues.

While this list should provide you with a good start, you may well need to go beyond these resources.

You should not pursue your research by simply “Googling” your topic. You may also not use Wikipedia as a research source. The Internet is full of questionable websites and information. Google does not discern between bad and good websites and Wikipedia has no controls over who adds content. Before using any website that is not associated with a legitimate organization or one of the databases listed above, you should show the site to your instructor and discuss whether it is of good quality.

Making Bibliography Cards

Once you possess some good sources, you will make bibliography cards. The following pages explain the

importance of those cards, describe the information they must contain, and provide examples.

Bibliography cards form the basis of your bibliography, an organized list of the sources you con-

sulted and used in researching and writing your term paper. It is essential that each bibliogra-

phy card includes all of the information identified below and does so in the appropriate

format. These cards serve as a paper trail for you or your instructor to find the exact sources of

your research. Bibliography cards include information such as the author, title, publication date,

city of publication, publisher, web address, etc. If you create your bibliography cards correctly

for each of your sources, completing your bibliography will be as easy as alphabetizing your

sources by author and copying them into the bibliography.

Example #2: Books Bibliography cards for books are fairly simple. All of the needed information is on the front and back sides of the title page for virtually every book. The title page is usually the first or second page of the entire book. Necessary information for the bibliography card and entry include the author, title, city where published, the name of the publisher, and the year published. In this card, the publisher is Oxford University Press. University Press can always be shortened to UP in bibli- ographies.

Example #3: Articles or Essays from an Anthology

Anthologies are collections of different authors’ work. For example, a poetry anthology would

include poems from a variety of poets in one edited volume. Anthologies of essays will be use-

ful for the term paper project. In particular, the Opposing Viewpoints book series are very well

suited to research for the project. Bibliography entries for anthologies require the student to get

both information about the article/essay they are using, as well as information from the title page

of the book itself. Required information includes the author and title of the article, as well as the

pages it occupies in the book. For the book itself, students must note the name of the editor(s),

and the other information that would normally be gathered about a book.

EXAMPLE 5: CQ Researcher and Other Online Databases The bibliography entry information is clearly labeled on the card below. For a CQ Researcher ar- ticle and other database articles, you can often get your citation information from the web page. If you are given an option, select “Chicago” style. You may have to make subtle changes, like adding the <> around the URL.

EXAMPLE 6: SIRS

For SIRS , you need to note the original bibliography entry , as well as the SIRS information, as SIRS reprints articles originally found elsewhere. Each binder has a title and a year, and each binder also has an editor. You must include this information on your bibliography card. Some binders have numbers and some have years. You should always include the name of the Volume Editor and include the correct company name for the particular binder you are using.

EXAMPLE 8: Facts.com Each article you obtain from Facts.com, even if it is from the same section of their web page, needs a separate bibliography card and bibliography entry. Like other web pages, Facts.com provides a variety of citation information with its articles. Still, you will need to rearrange their citation information.

EXAMPLE 9: Gale Opposing Viewpoints For Gale Opposing Viewpoints, you will only need to change a few things from the computer generated bibliography entry. First, remove everything in the URL after “find.galegroup.com/” and add the <>. Once you have shortened the URL, you should then move the access date to the end of the citation. In Gale’s automatic citation, it will be the last thing before the URL. In this case, it was listed as 25 June 2007. Put it in parentheses and follow this format: (accessed Month, Day, Year), making it consistent with the other sources.

Other types of sources

For a complete listing of bibliography card/entry examples for all types of sources, please see the section entitled “Bibliography Samples” in the Appendix, beginning on page 27.

Sample Note Card

For your notes to be useful, they must be well organized. First, make sure that you know the origin of every card. Use the bibliography cards code system and page numbers to do so. (Web pages and other electronic articles do not have page numbers for you to use.) Each note card should only have notes on it from one source. Each separate note on that card should have a page number with it, so that when you make your footnotes, you will have the information at hand. Second, each card needs a subject heading that summarizes the information on it. Finally, use quotation marks if you copy directly from the source. You should also note the author of the quote and that person’s title (when applicable.)

Writing the Paper - Overview

You will not be required to write the essay in one sitting. By the time your final draft is due, your peers and your teacher will have provided you with detailed feedback on each section of your paper. As with other phases of the project, it is crucial that you stay up to date during the writing stage. If you miss a deadline, it is extremely difficult to catch up. If you fail to bring your work with you to class, you’ll miss out on the opportunity to get feedback on your work.

Creating an Outline

A detailed outline is essential. It will allow you to use your research effectively, give your paragraphs

focus and structure, and insure that you do not omit any important parts of the paper. Each type

of term paper you write at Burroughs will require a different type of outline. Tailor your outline to

the assignment you are working on. For this year’s project, the following outline usually results in

successful term papers. Note: This outline does not work for all topics, but it will for most. An alternative outline

for the Problem/Solution type of essay is available from your teacher. Also, an outlining worksheet is located on page

32 of the Appendix.

Standard Outline for 8th^ Grade Term Paper

Please note that the roman numerals can stand for either a paragraph or a section, which is a series of related paragraphs that cover a part of the outline

I. Introduction

a. Craft an opening sentence that is unique to your topic and that draws the interest of the reader. b. Introduce the topic of your term paper, discuss the controversy, and briefly state the differing sides. c. Mention the organizational structure that you will follow in the essay. d. Write a thesis statement, a one sentence description of your solution to the problem and why that solution is preferable to the opposing side. e. Avoid using quotes, specific facts, and statistics. Save them for your body sections. f. Aim for your introduction to be between ½ to one full page

II. Background Section

a. Make a topic sentence that will set up the main points in this section b. Cover the necessary facts, laws, dates, and court cases that the reader will need to know to understand the rest of the essay c. Transition to the CON section (the arguments you do not agree with) d. Aim for the background section to be no more than one page III. CON Arguments Section